Refrigerator



Oct. 11,` 1932. c. M, WEINHElMER 1,882,536

REFRIGERATOR Filed NOV. 5, 1950 my; a

` -lnuenlur- Garll'llll'enhaimer' 117 FV' 'f' Patented Oct. 11, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR Application filed November 5, 1930. Serial No. 493,499.

My invention relates to improvements in domestic refrigerators of the type illustrated in United States Design Patent No. 73,77 6, November 8th, 1927, granted to C. R. Carrick.

5 In this type of unit wherein a kitchen sink is positioned upon the top of a refrigerator casing, the refrigerator casing is formed with a toe receiving recess along its lower front edge, so that the user of the sink may stand close J thereto.

The object of my invention is to position the refrigerator door locks upon the lower portions of the door frames, instead of upon the doors, and to furnish such locks with l downwardly extended actuating handles which project into the toe receiving recess, and-which are adapted to be actuated by the foot of the person desiring to open the refrigerator doors, and a further object of my invention is to provide resilient members against which the doors close and which swing the doors partially open when the locks are actuated t-o release the doors.

A still further obj ect of my invention is to provide a refrigerator having an unbroken surface upon its front face and sides so that such faces can be kept thoroughly clean, and in which there is no outwardly projecting door handles or latches to catch in the clothes of ersons standing at the sink.

ly invention consists of a refrigerator of the foregoing type constructed and arranged all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the refrigerator and sink unit.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view through a fragmentary portion of the refrigerator door casing, showing the door open,

and

Fig. 3 is also an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view of the portion of the door casing and door illustrated in Fig. 2.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different views in the drawing.

The unit as illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a domestic sink 1 supported upon the top of 5 a refrigerator casing 2, and the lower front edge of such refrigerator casing is lformed with a toe receiving recess 3, in'order that the person using the sink may standv close thereto.

In building this type of unit heretofore I have found that the provision of the usual locks upon the refrigerator doors was not altogether suitable, as such locks or lock handles necessarily projected from the doors and very frequently were a cause of annoyance to the person standing at the sink, as their clothes were apt to become caught in the lock handles, and furthermore it was necessary for the person standing at the sink to be alert against accidently bumping their limbs against the door handles.

It was also found, as is also the case in the standard type of refrigerator opened b a handle positioned intermediately of the height of the door,that very frequently both hands of the person desiring to place food stuffs in the refrigerator were occupied in carrying such food stuffs, so that it was impossible for them to open the refrigerator doors without freeing one of their hands. I therefore devised this present door lock arrangement manually actuatable by means of the foot.

My door lock/.1L is positioned in the lower part of the door frame and consists of a vertically slidable latch 5, adapted to engage within an upwardly extending keeper orilice 6 in the lower edge of the door 7'. The latch 5 can be actuated in any suitable inanner, and in the drawing I have shown an inverted L shaped member 8, pivoted at one sa end upon a pin 9, and furnished upon its lower end with a pad 10. The lower end of such member 8 projects through a slot 11 into the toe receiving recess 3. 12 is a spring interposed between the downwardly extend- 9o ing portion of the member 8 and one end of the slot 12. The lower end of the latch 5 is formed with a horizontal slot 13 and the member 8 is furnished at the endvof its horj.;A i zontal portion with a pin 14 which projects 95 into the slot.

Vhen the door is closed the latch 5 projects into the keeper orice and retains the door'in the closed position. When it is desired to open the door the lower end of the member 8 is manually pushed forwardly by the use of the toe, swinging such member into I the position illustrated in dotted lines.

When the member 8 is swung about the pin 9 it moves downwardly, thus moving the latch 5 downwardly through the engagement of the pin 14 within the slot 13. The downward movement ,of the latch 5 of course removes it out of engagement with the kee per orifice 6, and permits the door to open.

The refrigerator doors are hingedly mounted upon their vertical edges, and in order that the door may swing open when the latch 5 is released I furnish a resiliently held plunger 15 within the edge of the door casing upon which the door is hingedly o mounted. The plunger 15 is contained within a cylindrical member 16 furnished with a spring 17 tending to move the plunger l5 outwardly, and such plunger engages the edge of the door, which is situated within the door frame. When the door is closed the spring 17 is under compressionv with the plunger 15` bearing against the door edge, and when the latch is released from engagement with the keeper orifice 6, the door is pushed partially open through the medium of the plunger 15 actuated by the spring 17. The upper end ofthe latch 5 is suitably rounded upon its outer edge, so that when the door is swung shut the latch is depressed whilst the edge of the door passes there-over, and then moves upwardly into the keeper orifice 6 under the influence of the spring 12, which compresses when the latch 5 and member 8 are moved downwardly.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have devised a particularly simple type of refrigerator door` lock which can be readily actuated by the foot, and in which a latch is conveniently situated in the toe receiving recess, thereby permitting the front of the refrigerator to present an unbroken surface, and although I have shown.

and described a particular type of lock mechanism it is to be understood that I can substitute any other suitable mechanism having the same function, without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

A door lock mechanism for cabinets havl ing a toe receiving recess under the door, comprising a vertical reciprocab'le latch contained within the door frame and adapted to protrude into and retract from an .orifice in the lower edge of the door, and a pivotally supported dependent latch actuating member extending into the toe receiving recess and swingable rearwardly towards the back of the recess to retract the latch from the orice in the door.

CARL MEYER WEINHEIMER. 

